It’s super disappointing Sophia doesn’t have the best potential, but like I always said, potential doesn’t mean crap! Sophia’s still the best in my eyes! Ah? Isn’t that the kid who got nine phoenixes during the potential test? What’s she doing here at Sophia’s birthday party? After Sophia got tested, I went straight home and baked a cake. It took me a few hours, and I have no idea what happened in that time. Softie did all the boring stuff like letting guests in and whatnot. I don’t even know who’s in my house! It’s okay though, Ilya put some formations around my stuff. If anyone tries to touch things they aren’t allowed to touch—which is everything—they’re bodies will go boom! I think.

Anyway! “Who’s this? Is she your friend?” Sophia’s never told me about friends before!

“This is Ri, Mommy,” Sophia said. “You told me to invite her, remember?”

…Eh? Hmm. Hmmmm. Hmmmmmm. Nope. Doesn’t ring a bell. I probably forgot then, oh wells! “You’re Sophia’s friend? Nice to meet you! I’m Sophia’s mom, and that puts me higher up on the hierarchy, you got that?”

Why’s Ilya slapping her own face?

“Junior greets Senior,” Sophia’s friend said and cupped her hands towards me. “Thank you for inviting me to Sophia’s birthday party. I am very thankful.”

This kid…. She’s so polite! I thought she was supposed to be haughty and arrogant thanks to having nine phoenixes come out of the pillar, but she’s nothing like that. Wait a minute. That’s probably because her family lost their standing after losing their limbs, huh? Does she know about her family? If she does, isn’t she angry at me? Maybe she’s here to ruin Sophia’s birthday party!

“Mommy! Stop glaring at my best friend.” Sophia’s face blocked her friend’s. “You’re scaring her.”

Hmm. Ilya looks a little troubled too. Has she realized the problem too? Of course! She’s super smart. There’s no way she’d miss something as obvious as this. Eh? Usually, I would miss something as obvious as this? I would, but not when it comes to my daughter’s wellbeing! Then, what do I do? What if Sophia’s friend has no idea about what Ilya and I did to her family? Do I tell Sophia they can’t be friends anymore? That’ll hurt her feelings. Mm…. This is making my head hurt. It’s decided; I’ll worry about it later! “Err, hi to you too, Ri. Anyway, it’s cake-cutting time! Here you go.”

“Lucia!” Softie took away the knife I gave Sophia. “Sophia’s not old enough to cut the cake by herself yet! What are you thinking?”

Eh? “What do you mean?” I was cutting potatoes in the kitchen when I was barely four years old! Sure, I sliced my fingers a few times, and there was one time I thought I cut my pinky off completely, but I turned out perfectly fine! “It’s totally safe. Nothing can go wrong!” Even if Sophia slices off a finger, Ilya can fix it up right quick, mhm.

Softie sighed and shook her head. Then, she cut the cake that Sophia was supposed to cut. I made it super-duper large since there was supposed to be a lot of people. I made it out of the best ingredients that I took from Mirta’s farm. Usually she tries to stop me from taking things, but she was all for it when I told her I was baking a cake for Sophia. In fact, she’s even here at the party! I think…. There’s just too many people. I think I recognize like … five of them: including Sophia, Softie, and Ilya.

For some reason, most of the guests aren’t touching the cake. That’s okay, it just means there’s more for Sophia later. Most of the guests are hanging around Ilya. It seems like it’s Ilya’s party more than Sophia’s! I should kick her out. Hmph. How dare she steal Sophia’s spotlight? I’m not sure what else happens at a birthday party though. I remember attending Ilya’s a long, long time ago, but other than that, I never went to any others. If I did, I can’t remember them. I know there’s supposed to be presents! For now, I’m just going to record Sophia with this necklace Ilya gave me. I’m not going to miss a single moment!

Sophia looks so happy when she’s eating my cake. Ri looks like she’s enjoying it too! Hmm, she can’t be a bad person looking to ruin Sophia’s life. Anyone who likes my food is a good person. It’s as simple as that. People who don’t want to eat my food because it has impurities in them or whatever excuse they come up with aren’t good people! Ah? It looks like Ri’s even storing some cake in an interspacial ring to save for later! Hmm. That ring looks really familiar…. Did Sophia take it from me to give to her friend? Hmm…. Oh wells! As long as Sophia’s happy.

“Is everyone done eating?”

Mm? Ilya? What’s she doing? How much time has passed? It passed too quickly!

“If that’s the case, we’ll start with the gifting ceremony.” Ilya walked up to a chair in the back of the room. It was on a stage with steps leading up to it. “Sophia, come, sit over here. Ri, you come here too.”

“Is, is that okay?” Sophia’s friend asked in a small voice. “This is your party.”

“It’s okay!” Sophia grabbed her friend’s arm and dragged her up to the stage. “If Auntie says to do something, you better listen … or else!”

“What happens in the or else?”

Sophia shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m too scared to find out.”

The two kids went up on the stage, and Ilya pulled something out of her interspacial ring. They were dark-green jade necklaces strung up with red strings. “These are protective necklaces. If your lives are threatened, they’ll activate and bring you to safety. Also, they’re pretty fashionable, if I may say so myself.”

Sophia took the necklace, and her friend took the other one. Sophia looked at it before looking at Ilya. “Auntie, did you mean these were fashionable when you were young? They look like something old people wear.” Sophia stiffened for some reason. “I, I, I mean, thank you very much, Auntie! I like it a lot!”

Hey! Ilya! Don’t threaten my kid like that!